I took the two dogs to the park yesterday with my Nan. One is a labradoodle, one a sharpei. Both under 2. My blood is absolutely boiling after an exchange with a woman there. I'm still shaking, and I don't think I was being unreasonable, but I would be mortified if I was. Sorry for the length of this, but I want to describe the background as best I can.
Both of the dogs are very well socialised, and they go to the park every day. They are playful and they love to run around, but they're not aggressive in the slightest.
The park is well known amongst dog walkers, and the park encourages this. The park is of a good size but not massive, but there are a few clearly defined 'sections' (although not fenced off).
Dogs are free to run around the park, but there's a bit where you often see nervous dogs/owners, generally on a lead but sometimes off when no other nervous dogs are there. We never go anywhere near this part, and our dogs are well trained enough not to venture there.
We went to the park an hour or so later than usual (although we have walked them at this time before) so there was a mix of known and unfamiliar dogs. The first half an hour was absolutely fine. The dogs were doing their usual running around, playing with other dogs, and we were having the usual chats as we walked around with the various dog owners.
After a couple of circles round we reached the field. This is where dogs run around, and the opposite side of the park to where the nervous dogs/owners are. There was a beautiful choc lab there playing with a ball, and she came wagging her tail over to our dogs, who immediately started to play with her.
There was no barking at all, and all three dogs were wagging their tails. They were all jumping over each other trying to get the ball- just playful behaviour that we see every day there. The owner of the dog started trying to get her dog to come away. After about ten seconds of her trying I realised she was nervous, so I immediately started to walk over so I could leash the dogs and give her the opportunity to do the same.
As I reached her she said 'Can you leash them or something, because they're going to do something to her, they're nasty and they're going to hurt her.' Her dog was bigger than both of my dogs, and their tails are all still wagging, and there's no barking/biting/aggressive behaviour.
I said (whilst leashing the dogs) 'That's what I'm coming here to do. They're not going to do anything to her at all, they're not nasty.' She said 'I don't want them anywhere near my dog'.
I pointed over to other side of the park and said 'If you're nervous then you might want to take your dog over there, it's much quieter and there are no other dogs there'. My dogs are both on leads at this point, her dog isn't, and her dog is trying to play with my dogs but they can't as they're on leads.
She said 'I'm not putting her on a fucking lead, you'd better keep those two on leads and stay away from me.' At this point my Nan had arrived, and I was fuming. I told her she had another think coming if she thought I was going to keep my dogs on leads just because she doesn't want her dog to play. I told her she'd be better off staying away from the park between 7-9 am, because at this point it's full of dogs who all know and play together.
She walked off (with her dog still not on a lead) and screamed that I was a silly bitch. All this while surrounded by elderly dog walkers.
If you've made it this far then thanks and sorry, I'm just still a bit in shock over this! We've been going there almost every day for almost 2 years, and this is the first time anything like this has happened. If for a second I thought that my dogs were being even slightly aggressive I would leash them. I've leashed them before when a dog has started to bark at them/try and attack them, and just calmly moved them away.
WIBU at all? I actually really feel sorry for this ladies dog. She was so playful 